Though the economic recession officially ended over two years ago, the job market remains pretty challenging. In the U.S. officially no new jobs were created last month, continuing a slowing trend from the spring – and this situation is currently a major focus of Washington. However, Adobe is one company that continues hiring new staff at a healthy pace, and more broadly, Adobe product skills remain in strong demand by employers worldwide.

Adobe Systems (the company itself) presently has 358 job openings around the globe (adding another 4% to their workforce) – but if you know Adobe software generally, then the opportunity is even larger. Right now there are nearly 50,000 employment openings across North America that require Adobe skills, and you can see these and browse for yourself with the free downloadable Adobe Job Feed app.

All major tools are represented here: Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, Premiere, After Effects, and so on. You can drill down to sort by city/state or ZIP code for jobs in your area, and then view the complete descriptions and even apply for positions directly from within your web browser.

You know all the usual reasons software makers give to register your software – to receive tech support, news, updates, offers, bug fixes, and so on. It also protects your investment because it gives you permanent access to your registered serial number in case something ever happens to your computer or software.

30 days of free training at Lynda.com with more than 1,500 hours of Adobe training,

a free download of the new and versatile text typeface font family Adobe Text, or

a 30-day trial of the Creative Edge online library with thousands of books and videos.

Doing the same for Adobe Acrobat X gets you some similar choices – or a 10% discount coupon for anything at the Adobe Store, or four special edition Acrobat X PDF Portfolio themes, or discounts plus free access to Safari Books Online, Total Training, or Peachpit. Registering Acrobat also enables you to use services at Acrobat.com.

“Adobe MAX is an experience unlike any other — an opportunity to learn from the experts and connect with thousands of the most influential designers, developers, and decision-makers in our industry.”

If you’d like to go to Adobe MAX this year in L.A. (October 1-5) and save $400 in the process, just purchase (full or upgrade) any one of the products listed below from the Adobe online store and you’ll receive a special promo code that will discount your regular full confer­ence pass price by US$400…

But since the upgrade price for many of these products is less than $400, basically you’re getting the software for more than free!

[UPDATE (June 6th) – MAX registration is now open! Save $200 with an early-bird discount – or an even better promotion, save $400 with coupon code from Adobe product purchased.]

MAX is the big annual conference for all-things-Adobe. One of the best aspects of MAX last year was the key presentations and announcements were webcast live, and most of the rest of the talks and lectures were offered later on-demand. These sessions are still available for viewing and are a fantastic free resource (see the list) for learning about Adobe software. There are more than 200 recorded videos on topics ranging from Photoshop Tips, Techniques & Power Shortcuts to “Deep Dives” for Dreamweaver and Flash.

This year, MAX will happen from October 1-5 at the Los Angeles, CA Convention Center. It’s a great time to tune in online or to attend in person for the news, excitement, training, gather­ings, and giveaways (last year all attendees received free Motorola Droid 2 smartphones and Google TVs) – plus the chance to meet the experts and ask your own questions.

Following up last summer’s new version of Captivate, this morning Adobe is releasing three new products for technical communicators, instructional designers, documentation creators, help system authors, and eLearning professionals – and they are RoboHelp 9, FrameMaker 10, and Technical Communication Suite 3. The last of these, TCS 3, is a fully-integrated suite that comprises five major Adobe applications – with the other three components being Captivate 5, Photoshop CS5 and the recent Acrobat X Pro.

This year, as in years past, Adobe is sharing a holiday greetings card online that’s attracting thousands of visitors… And their card this year is all about finding inspiration.

Only this year, the tradition is even better – because for each viewer, Adobe will make a $1 donation to Mercy Corps to help children around the world. Mercy Corps is a global aid agency dedicated to helping people in the world’s toughest places through crises of natural disaster, poverty, and conflict.

So please take a moment to view Adobe’s Holiday Card 2010 (and be inspired), and you’ll also be helping Adobe and Mercy Corps help millions of young people around the globe.

Some of these were truly hilarious and we’ve put together a reel of the best ones below. Perhaps the funniest of the 10-minute collection is the first one about new Adobe Acrobat X, but we’ll let you decide… Here’s the playlist:

There’s a cool new art museum that’s just opened, and it’s available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, at no cost… It’s the Adobe Museum of Digital Media, a first-of-its-kind, all-digital venue created to showcase all forms of digital art and media. As digital media is Adobe’s business, we’ve been looking forward to this space opening its doors…

And the setting does not disappoint. You get the idea like you’re at a museum of the future, with a stunning cityscape intro to the unique building and its exhibit hall. The striking structure was designed and modeled by an architect even though it exists only in cyberspace. Holo­graphic videos from the curator and a cyborg jellyfish (with a euro-diva voice) are your primary guides, and you have the feeling like you’ve snuck into your very own “night at the museum” with a cavernous, futuristic, even cinematic atmosphere.

We’ve previously written about how you can save $400 on Adobe MAX 2010, the big annual conference for all things Adobe, that’s happening this year from October 23-27 in Los Angeles, California… Now, there’s a short time left to save $200 with another promotion code EBX100: